Belgian Minister of Justice
Terror in Brussels: Minister resigns because of mistake
Two Swedish football fans were killed in a terrorist attack in Brussels. photo
© Hatim Kaghat/Belga/dpa
Could the recent terrorist attack in Belgium have been prevented? A few days after the crime, evidence of this increased. A politician draws conclusions.
Four days after the deadly terrorist attack on two Swedish football fans in Brussels, the Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne announced his resignation. Van Quickenborne justified the decision on Friday evening as a serious administrative error. Accordingly, the man who carried out the attack could have been extradited to Tunisia a long time ago.
The fact that Tunisia’s extradition request, submitted on August 15, 2022, was not processed by the responsible judge was an individual, monumental and unacceptable mistake with dramatic consequences, said Van Quickenborne. He takes political responsibility for this.
It initially remained unclear on Friday why the extradition request was not processed by the judge. According to the judiciary, 31 international extradition requests were handed to this judge last year. 30 he worked on, except that of the later assassin.
Two Swedish fans were killed in the attack on the sidelines of a qualifying game for the European Football Championship between Belgium and Sweden on Monday evening. The Islamist terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the crime. The attacker, a Tunisian named Abdessalem Lassoued, was then shot dead by police on Tuesday. According to Italian authorities, it had been known since 2016 that he was an Islamist.